Art of operating water-gas generators



y 1927' F. A. HOWARD ART OF OPERATING WATER GAS GENERATORS FiledApril 1. 1920 film /1. J-fawa mi I N VEN TOR.

ATTORNEYS,

Patented July 5, 1927. V UNITED STATES I 1,634,833 PATENT. QFFICE.

FRANK A. HOWARD, OF WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB TO STANDARD DEVELOP-KENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ART OF OPERATDTG WATER-GAS GENERATORS.

Application filed April 1, 1920. Serial N0. 370, 10.

My invention relates to the manufacture of water gas and will be fullyunderstood from the following specification taken -in connection withthe accompanying drawing 6 which shows in diagrammatic vertical section,a form of water gas generator, suited to the purposes of the presentinvent-ion.

In the drawing the numeral 1 designates the steel shell of the wa-tergas generator,

'0 this shell being lined with fire brick 2, or other heat insulatingand resisting material. Some-distance above the'bottom of the generatorare located grate bars 3. The frustoconical top of the generator,designated 4, is closed by a cover plate 5 in the usual manner. A valvedconduit 6 leads from the upper portion of the generator and a similarconduit 7 enters the chamber below the grate bars 3. third conduit 8disposed substantially mid way of the height of the generator andcommunicatin with the latter b tuyeres 9 perforating the lining 2. Anoil spray pipe 10 enters thecasin of the generator near the cover plateand is arranged at such an angle as to permit uniform distribution ofthe sprayed oil over the upper surface of the coal or coke in thegenerator. A steam supply pipe 11 is preferably tapped. into the side ofthe oil pipe 10 to secure more effic ient spraying of the oil, and forother purposes as will later appear.

' In accordance with my invention, the above described gas generator maybe operated in the following manner The generator is charged with a goodgrade of gas coal, in lumps not too small, or. with coke, and fired inthe usual manner.

v The air blast enters through the lower con 40 duit 7, passing throughthe grate bars 3, and upwa fd through the lower section of the coal bed,thence out by the tuyeres 9 and conduit 8. Blasting. will be conductedin this manner untila tem rature of the fuel bed proper for the pronotion of water gas is obtained. The blast will then be shut off and thesteam required for the production of the water gas' will be introduced,as for example, by a pipe 7' tapped into the pipe 7. During the watergas making period, the valve in the pipe '8 will be left open, the valvein the pipe Gremainin'g closed. The generated water gas will thereforeass out through the pipe 8 to be further andled in a manner whichdoesnot concern the In addition to these, there is a present invention. Atthe end of the water gas making period the steam supply will" be shutoif, the valve in'pipe 8 closed, the valve in the pipe 6 opened, and oilintroduced, w th or without steam, through the suppl plpe 10. Theintroduce'd'oil will be distri uted more or less uniformly over thesurface of the fuel in the top of the generator, and will be vaporizedby the heat of thls fuel body. Accordingly, as the height of the fuelbed above the tuyeres '9 is great or small, the vaporization temperatureto Wl'llCl'l the oil is subjected, will be low or high.' That is, ifvaporization at a low temperature and with a minimum amount of crackingof the oil is to be accomplished, the fuel level will be maintained verynear the top of the generator, that is, a considerable distance abovethe tuyeres 9. On the contrary, if the vaporization is to be at tendedby a greater amount of cracking, or decomposition of the oil, a lowerfuel level will beXma-intained. By way of explanation of thesestatements, it may be remarked that the body of fuel lying above thetuyeres 9 is heated almost entirely by conduction in the cycle ofoperation above described, and the temperature of its upper surface istherefore a function of the depth of the conduct,

ing bed. A further control of the amount of decomposition attending thevaporization still further control of the character of the vaporizationaccomplished in the top of the 1 of the oil may be had by varying thequan generator may be had by introducing steam through a pipe 8' tappedinto the conduit'8.

The steam thus introduced passes outward from the tuyeres 9 and upwardthrough the body of fuel lying above the tuyeres, effecting steamreductlon of that portion of the oil which trickles through the fuel bedand hence escapes the direct action of the steam injected upon thesurface of the bed. 4 The, oil vapors accompanied by a greater orlessproportio'n of fixed as according-as V the amount of decomposition.is large or v small, pass from the generator through the upper conduit6. These vapors may be in part or wholly.condensed or may be cracked forthe production of oil gas, the further handling of the vapors notconstituting part of the present invention.

- The process above described is mainly de signed for-the handling of,heavygsphaltic lOO base etroleum oils, either heavy .crude pepetro eum,such as the 12 B. gravity crude oil produced in the Panuco district ofMexico, or residues from lighter crude petroleums. By the processdescribed, such crude petroleum oils may be subjected to distillationwith a governed amount of simultaneous cracking, varying from a maximumto a minimum amount of fixed gas'by the controlled process described. Asan inevie table incident of the process, the large proportion of cokeproduced in the distillation of the oil down to dryness is depositedwithin and upon the coal or coke with which the generator is charged. Asso deposited, it is available for the production of the water gas, thecontinuation of the process above described, with the intermittentaddition of fresh fuel, serving to work the fuel bed constantly downwardin the ordinary fashion. \Vithin a short time after the operation beginstherefore, the fuel within the generator consists of coal or coke fromcoal, permeated and coated ;by petroleum coke produced in the upperchamber of the genorator.

The three phase cycle of operation above described, may be variedconsiderably, both as to the number of phases and as to the conduct ofeach phase. For example, a further control of the temperature of thefuel bed in the top of the generator may be attained by permitting partof the air blast gas to escape through the pipe 6' during the blowing-upof the generator. Likewise, it is permissible to cause the oil vapors topass outward through the pipe 8 instead. of the upper conduit 6, thatis, to force these vapors to traverse the whole depth of the upper fuelbed, before escaping. It is also feasible tointroduce the steam for thewater gas make through the steam line 8., causing it to pass downwardlythrough the generator, so that the generated water gas will escape fromthe conduit 7 Under this condition of operation, the process may beconducted in two phases, the oil being sprayed on to the top of the-fuelbed simultaneously with the introduction of steam in Under theseconditions a mixture of water gas and oil gas will be delivered from thelower conduit 7. 1

The foregoing. will, it is believed, be suflicient to indicate the scopeof usefulness of the resent invention, and the manner in whici theparticularly described procedure may be varied while still adhering tothe same underlying principles of operation.

What I claim is:

1. The improvement in the art of operat-, ing water gas generators whichconsists'in bringing the fuel in one section of a water gas generator tothe temperature required for water gas generation, simultaneouslybringing the fuel in another section of the generator to a temperatureat least suitable for the vaporization of petroleum oil, producing watergas in the first section, subsequently introducing petroleum oil intosaid second section, separately removing the vapors formed by saidpetroleum oil vaporization, and causing the fuel in said second section,with the petroleum coke deposited therein, to move into said firstsection.

2. The improvement in the art of operating a water gas generator whichconsists in dividing'the fuel in such generator into two superimposedzones, air blasting the lower zone separately, independently controllingthe temperature of the upper zone, producing water gas in the lowerzone, then introducing oil into the upper zone, and separately removingthe vapors formed in said upper zone therefrom.

3. The improvement in the art of operating water gas generators whichconsists in dividing the fuel bed in a water gas generator into twozones, alternating air blasting the lower zone and passing steam throughthe lower zone for making water gas, and introducing petroleum oil 'intothe upper zone after the water gas making period and prior to blastingthe lower zone.

4. The improvement in the art of operating water gas generators whichconsists in dividing the fuel bed in a water gas generator intotw'ozones, alternating "air blasting the lower zone and passing steamthrough the lower zone for making water gas, introducing petroleum oilinto the upper zone subsequent to the water gas ma ing period and priorto blasting the lower zone, and separately removing the Vapor materialformed from the petroleum oil in the upper zone.

